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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26752375">Dark Waters</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/MikiNikki/pseuds/MikiNikki'>MikiNikki</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Legend of Zelda &amp; Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Background: Link (Legend of Zelda), F/F, Femslash, Fluff and Angst, Post-Twilight Princess</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 12:21:41</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,464</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26752375</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/MikiNikki/pseuds/MikiNikki</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After saving both the kingdoms of Twilight and Hyrule, the three heroes spend some time together before Midna returns home. With Link off enjoying the company of his friends he has saved, the two princesses conversate fully for the first time. Finally able to completely understand one another, their feelings begin to bloom into something more than simple companionship. With her mind made up with what to do with the Mirror of Twilight, the only link between their two worlds, Midna struggles to find a way to make sure the Princess of Hyrule never forgets her.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Midna/Zelda (Legend of Zelda)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Dark Waters</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“I suppose we’re even now, aren’t we?”</p><p>Zelda smiled at her question; it was a strange hybrid of remorse and kindness, yet pity could not be found in a single line that the shape of her lips molded into her face. Perhaps that was why Midna was so fascinated by her. Clearly raised from a high nobility like herself, yet still genuine in her feelings. How the princess had managed to hang onto every ounce of her kindness through everything they had just been through, she had no idea. </p><p>“I suppose so,” the Hylian responded simply, her voice like a silk blanket being draped over her shoulders. There was not much to discuss about the matter; both had sacrificed indispensable parts of themselves for the other. Had it not been for the Gods, neither one of them would be sitting here right now. Yet here they were, staring out at Lake Hylia together as the sun painted a blend of watercolor hues against the sky as it sank lower into the horizon. The twilight was coming; the only time both of their worlds could become one. It would be the last sunset she would ever see in Hyrule and the notion made a small hole in her chest. </p><p>Never would she have guessed that she would have become so attached to these two beings of the light. Many times, she had felt as if being in their mere presence would have cast her out like a shadow at midday. Yet it was because of them that she was able to return to normal and save her kingdom. It was because of both of them that she could return to her rightful place as heir to the throne of Twili and rule her people. So why was it then, that the once-cursed imp that had arrived in this new world full of malice and hungered for nothing but revenge, dreaded leaving them?</p><p>“He looks happy finally, wouldn’t you say?” Zelda inquired, dragging Midna out of her thoughts. She turned to look down at the section of the lake where the river met it. There, the fated hero was, playing with the friends he finally could deem out of harm’s way. A smile snuck itself onto her face, the innocence of it all enamoring her. She couldn’t help but feel the small hole in her chest burrow itself just a little deeper towards her heart upon viewing the scene. Now that it was over, and seeing him from a distance rather than from his shadow, it dawned on her just how young he was; how young both of these Hylians were. </p><p>“And I thought that my people had been cursed,” she whispered to herself. Zelda, for the first time, turned to face her. Her eyes were still soft, but her lips formed a small quizzical frown. She couldn’t help but think how cute the typically refined princess looked while confused and grinned to herself. She turned her head back forward, so as to not embarrass either of them with her thoughts being written on her face. </p><p>“I just mean that both of you...you’ll both have to do this all over again in another life, won’t you?” Midna explained. “I mean, everything I’ve seen has proven that the legends are true. You  will be reincarnated, you both and Ganon, and repeat this cycle over and over again. I cannot imagine bearing such a burden.” Her fellow ruler relaxed her raised eyebrows and returned her face to her typical resting expression. One akin to a beautiful renaissance statue.</p><p>“I suppose you are right,” she began replying, “but I cannot control my future lives or my birthright, so why waste the valuable time and fester over those concerns? I wrestled with the evident hopelessness of my situation and prayed that misfortune would not befall me or my people. But then, when Zant attacked Hyrule, I was given a choice. It was then that I realized that, while who I am was not a choice I could make, I could choose my ending. And I had control over the lives of those around me,” Zelda explained. How Midna had resented this princess when they first encountered, yet here she sat beside her, hypnotized by her words. She knew what decision she was getting at, the one she had hated her for having. The decision that she wasn’t able to make for her people, it had been taken from her. </p><p>“I was never taught to yield; I was only taught how to fight. Nobody prepared me for the weight the decision would be, not that they could have, I suppose. I could either let my people be slaughtered, fight to the death and die nobly. Or I could let them be spared, to be taken over by the twilight and have me be held prisoner in my own kingdom. My final thought before throwing down my blade was, ‘Who and where would I be without my people?’ Because I realized that the answer was nobody. I was nothing without them. How could I sacrifice their lives for something as foolish as glory?” </p><p>They sat in silence for a while after she finished. For the first time, the princess of Hyrule appeared emotional, vulnerable. She continued to sit with her perfect posture on the edge of the cliff they were at, hands folded politely in her lap. Yet her thumb kept rubbing the top of the other one, and her deep blue eyes began to shine like the water of Lake Hylia when the sun hit its surface. Link’s eyes had been a piercing blue; one that could look into your very soul and cut the darkness like his sword could evil. Yet hers were a much deeper, calming color. One of a deep water that you couldn’t see to the bottom of and could only imagine what swims in its depths. </p><p>“I understand your decision,” Midna replied simply. As a ruler, she did. Yet she couldn’t conclude to herself if she would have made the same one, had she been given the chance.  “However…”</p><p>“I was able to make a decision in the matter, at least,” Zelda finished for her. Her eyes shot up to meet the deep waters of hers, a bit surprised at her intuition, but realizing that of course she would know how she felt.</p><p>“I told you, for a moment, our hearts were one. I understood you and your feelings; your wishes and dreams; your pain and your sorrows,” she explained, giving Midna her signature comforting smile. A thought, or perhaps a feeling, flitted across her mind quickly, and nearly as quick a blush simmered to her cheeks. What else did the princess of Hyrule know about her after they had shared such a bond? She did not know, for when she sacrificed herself for her, it was not in the same manner. For it had not been her soul that she had given up in payment for her friends lives, but her being. ‘Which one was the greater sacrifice?’ She wondered to herself. Were they not equal in value? </p><p>“Tell me, princess,” she began to inquire, “What else did you happen to see while your soul was intertwined with mine?” It was Zelda’s turn to blush, making it more obvious by nervously tucking her hair behind one pointed ear, which was also a faint shade of pink. Her guiltless nervousness made a smirk snake itself onto Midna’s face, her orange eyes gleaming with mirth. She began to recall the things she had said to her when they had first met, the animosity spewing out of every word she had uttered to her. Though those words had been few and far between, she felt a pang of regret in speaking them at all. That time wasted; she could have teased her more and seen that glorious smile this whole time instead.</p><p>The clockwork in Zelda’s head could practically be heard grinding through her ears, the machinery working overtime to crank out a dignified answer somehow. Her face flushed a hue darker with each passing moment of silence, and Midna wondered if she had ever acted in such a manner like this with anyone else before. She knew that she hadn’t felt this way before herself. Was this predilection towards the other princess something new for the Hylian as well, or was she the only virgin in this fondness? Without any forewarning, the question mindlessly fell out of her mouth.</p><p>“May I hold your hand?” The sovereign of Hyrule’s head shot up, the feeling that she was experiencing after receiving such a question unclear on her facial features. Uneasiness was clearly there, but either out of fear or joyousness, she couldn’t tell. Slowly, her muscles relaxed and her widened eyes returned to their normal size. That gentle smile Midna had quickly fallen in love with returned, and she nodded. Typically, she wouldn’t have asked permission for such a thing, but neither of them knew the repercussions such a simple act would entail. Every time they had touched in the past, a great loss had occurred. Both Princesses were aware of the risk this gesture of endearment presented, yet in that moment, both deemed the possible peril that could befall them as worth it. </p><p>Without a word, Zelda reached over and delicately wrapped her fingers around the Twili’s. They both held their breath, unsure of what would happen. Two faces of the same coin were never supposed to see one another, let alone touch. Their luck was being pushed to the absolute limit. Would the coin fail to exist if they did? Would it melt before their very eyes, or would the edges simply fail to exist? Contort into something unheard of that was unrecognizable to those who experienced it? Moments passed, the air grew stale in their lungs, their hands grew warm from one another. When the preconceived end of the world failed to materialize, they let out their breath in a unified sigh of relief. Finally looking one another in the eye again, a mischievous grin enveloped Midna’s face before she laughed profoundly.  </p><p>“Well, that sure is a relief! Would have been a waste of an adventure to blow it at the last moment like that,” she proclaimed. This time it was Zelda’s turn to laugh, though it was more of a refined chuckle at most. She couldn’t choose which she enjoyed most; the rose red shade her cheeks became when flustered or the symphony her laugh made to the air. She flipped her hand over to return the princess’s grip, giving it a reassuring squeeze. The gesture was returned by Zelda intertwining her fingers with her own, filling in the gaps between her long fingers. </p><p>“I wish you could stay,” Zelda whispered, yearning weighing down every syllable that was uttered. The hole in her chest that she had forgotten about collapsed like a sinkhole, pulling in everything around it and leaving not a hint of what had been there. A bottomless pit. She turned back to look at her companion, a forlorn expression etched onto her face as she gazed at the remaining moments of the sun before the night, the final moments of the twilight. She had seen her upset before, but something about this was different. When they had first met in the tower, there was still a glint of hope to be found in the corner of her eye. Had that beacon of light been there before she met her and Link, she wasn’t sure, but it had been there since then at least. Now, it was hidden beneath the surface of her eyes, a shiny coin dropped to the water and swallowed by the darkness as it sank. This wasn’t how she wanted them to spend her last moments here in Hyrule.</p><p>Keeping their fingers knotted together, Midna raised her other hand towards Zelda, cupping her cheek in her palm. She gently turned her head to face hers, looking deep into her eyes, trying to search for their seabed. How did her own eyes look to her? Did they look despondent as well, or were they burning bright, desperate to not let this moment slip away? She needed to prove her existence to her, that she was truly here and always will be, even if they could never meet again. Her mind had been made up about the mirror, though she had no intention of telling either of the Hylians about it, knowing their inevitable rejections to it. How could she prove her love to her, years later, even after the memories of now began to dilute?</p><p>“Forgive me,” she breathed before colliding her lips into the other royalty’s. Her lips were soft, yet shockingly cold. They felt how her eyes looked; gentle, cool, but still, unpredictable. It took a moment for the action to register to either of them, despite Midna being the one to initiate it. She felt a hand grab the back of her neck and gently push her even closer, so that there wasn’t any possibility for space to develop between the two of them. She returned the gesture by combing her fingers through her perfect dark blonde hair, gently scratching the back of her head with her fingers. </p><p>She dedicated every second, every thought that raced in circles around her mind at that moment, to how she felt, to every sense she had. Her lips warming with each passing second they folded into one another, the sound of her breaths when she surfaced to find air, the velvety feeling of her hair while entangled in her fingers. All of it was being forced into her recollection, as if ever forgetting this moment in time would be the death of her. She would sooner die again than relinquish this memory.  </p><p>After their lips parted, Midna left her forehead to rest on Zelda’s, staring deep into her eyes to try and find what was drowned beneath their depths one last time. She prayed being closer to them would give her some insight, as if it would help her get dragged down into the bottom by whatever was swimming beneath its surface. When nothing reached out to latch onto her, she closed her eyes again and breathed in through her nose, taking in her scent. She knew their time together was coming to a close, the last rays of the sun were fading. Against every muscle’s desire in her body to stay, the Twilight Princess let go of her regal other half and stood up. She couldn’t make her eyes meet hers again, so she simply watched the last of the sun vanish beneath the horizon, the last sunset she’d ever see in the world of light. </p><p>“Let’s go.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Sorry for how long this is going to be, but I have a lot of people I need to thank! This was my first non-RP or non-academia writing project in almost 10 years, so I needed a lot of help lol. However, I'm still really proud of it and I'm excited to look back on this years from now and realize how much I'll have grown since this, so please leave comments to help me get there!</p><p>Firstly I need to thank Jordan, who has been my best friend and absolute rock for years. Always there to give me both support and a swift kick in the ass if I need it.<br/>Alex for being the love of my life and supporting whatever my current fixation is.<br/>Lori, Rica, and Moss, for pushing me to begin writing again and helping me rekindle the flame. I was very hesitant at first, s o Ireally appreciate the gentle pushing to put myself out there.<br/>Leggy for reading and giving my fic such a wonderful critique! Definitely helped me a ton I can' thank you enough</p></blockquote></div></div>
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